Eve TheoryEve Theory

By:

Kamil Przychodzien &

Alexander Kozeniauskas

Objective

• Is The Eve Theory fact or fiction, can this explain where we came from, and do we really have a common ancestor?

Eve Theory

• Was thought up by Rebecca Cann, Mark Stoneking, and Allan Wilson in 1987.

• Mitochondrial Eve Theory – States that the mitochondrial DNA in all humans is

inherited from one common female ancestor.

• There are many theories of human evolution, but this is one of the more supported theories with evidence to back it up.

Mitochondrial Eve Theory

• The University of California Berkley used restriction enzymes to track the lineage of women from around the world.

• From the findings of scientists it suggested that there were 2 common, but separate groups, such as Sub-Saharan Africans and North Africans.

• The information from these studies was then used to come up with a mutation rate for Mitochondrial DNA to trace back to the common ancestor.

What exactly is Mitochondrial Eve Theory?

• This also refers to the Mitochondrial DNA:– Mitochondria have

double-stranded DNA, thus replication of the mitochondrial DNA is independent of the DNA replication in the nucleus.

– Only Women can pass on Mitochondria.

Eve Theory

• Functions of the Mitochondria are:– Generators of energy

– Source of cellular respiration

– Place of heat production

• Mitochondria is much easier to study then nuclear DNA.

Eve TheoryEve Theory• In male and female

gametes the number of Mitochondria vary.

• Sperm mitochondria are destroyed shortly after fertilization.

• This helps explain why we can only track the lineages of mitochondria in women.

Bottleneck

• To explain the common ancestor for Mitochondrial Eve Theory is the bottleneck.– A severe population A severe population

constriction, probably constriction, probably caused by disease or caused by disease or natural disaster such natural disaster such as climate fluctuations, as climate fluctuations, fires, and earthquakes. fires, and earthquakes.

– A reduction in size A reduction in size is the main effect is the main effect of a bottleneck.of a bottleneck.

Original Population

Bottlenecking Event (natural disaster)

Surviving Population

Eve TheoryEve Theory• Mitochondrial DNA in our cells can still

be found and tested in human fossils many thousands of years old.

• Africa holds the oldest modern human fossils dating back about around 100,000 years ago, which helps support the Eve Theory.

Eve Theory• According to the most

common interpretation of the mitochondrial DNA data, the titles belong to the same hypothetical woman.

• Family trees, or “phylogenies,” constructed on the basis of mitochondrial DNA comparisons show that the living humans whose mitochondrial lineages branched earliest from the tree are indigenous Africans, whereas the lineages of indigenous peoples on other continents all branch off from African lines.

Common ancestor

Conclusion• Mitochondrial DNA Analysis provided the scientific

community with conceptive evidence.

• A valuable finding regarding the most common ancestor is the she came from Africa which supports theories about the spread of hominids.

• Africans have the greats diversity of Mitochondrial DNA sequences making it a supporting factor that is hard to dispute among researchers.